It had cut a 14-point lead down
to three with just a minute left in the fourth quarter. Instead, the next 30 seconds went the worst possible way for
the Tigers.

J.R. Reese got free for an easy layup for Jefferson High
School then seconds later, Chris Telman stole the ball at midcourt and got an
easy layup to seal the Falcons' 53-46 victory tonight in a Northwest
Jersey Athletic Conference Freedom Division game.

With the win, the Falcons wrestled control of the division
from the defending champion Tigers. A Tiger win would have tied the two teams
with two conference losses, and the Tigers would have held a 2-0 season
series edge by virtue of their double overtime win over Jefferson earlier this month in Jefferson Township.

"(We need to) win the rest of our games, hope Newton beats
(Jefferson) on Feb. 12 and focus on the county tournament and state tournament,"
Hackettstown's Jeremy DelValle said.

The Tigers trailed 45-31 early in the fourth quarter after reserve
forward Vinny Ginefra hit a 3-pointer from the corner. But the Tigers answered that with an 11-0 run, bookended by a pair of baskets, the first of which was turned
into a three-point play by DelValle.

But then, after each team traded baskets, Jefferson coach
Joe DiGennaro Jr., called a timeout with a minute left. The Falcons then
executed a couple of crisp passes like they had done all game long until Jeremy
Decotiis found Reese for the layup.

"It's just a breakdown defensively," Hackettstown coach
Mike McDonagh said. "You know, when you're chasing from behind, you've got to get
desperate at times. When we get desperate, that's when mistakes are made."

Of course, the Tigers would have preferred to not find
themselves needing another late-game comeback. But, as has happened many times this
season, the Tigers started slowly.

At the end of the first quarter, the Tigers
had six points on 2-of-10 shooting.

In the first meeting between these two teams, Hackettstown
had seven points at the end of the first before scoring 26 in the second. The
shooting picked up slightly in the second quarter tonight with the Tigers scoring 13 points.

But McDonagh is still searching for a way to get his team
going early.

"I could yell at them, I could talk to them, I could not say
anything ," he said. "We just haven't shot the ball consistently and then we
wake up and we're down 10 and we come back and win or we keep it close."

DelValle had an idea of how the Tigers could start stronger
though.

"I think we have to come out and pressure more," he said. "At
the end of the game, once we're down, that's when we start pressuring on
defense and that's when we start coming back in the games."

The Tigers' run began when they started to
use fullcourt pressure against the Falcons.

Jefferson had a slight length advantage against
Hackettstown and used it wisely. The Falcons outrebounded the Tigers, 24-18,
and were able to penetrate against the Tigers' defense.

"They do a nice job of following their shots and crashing
the boards," McDonagh said. "We didn't. We didn't box anyone out for three
quarters and we didn't crash the boards offensively, so we were one-and-done.
And when you're one-and-done, you better hope you're making (shots)."

Reese and Jones had six rebounds each for the Falcons.

On Jan. 3, the Tigers went to Jefferson and pulled out a
71-68 victory in double overtime. McDonagh said the difference in the two games
was his team's inability to make shots tonight. The Tigers went 4 of 20 on
3-pointers and made just 34 percent of its total shots.